The mental health and wellbeing of third level students have become areas of growing concern in recent years, with increasing numbers seeking psychological support during their time at college. Student counselling services play a crucial role in addressing these needs, yet they often operate within resource-limited environments which can influence both service provision and students’ engagement. Within this context, understanding how expectations of student counselling are formed, managed and experienced in the therapeutic process has become increasingly important. Expectations influence engagement, satisfaction, and perceived outcomes of counselling and mismatches between client and counsellor expectations can shape the course and outcomes of therapy. Despite the significance of this concept, limited research has examined how expectations are experienced and negotiated within the distinctive context of student counselling services in higher education in Ireland. The primary aim of this thesis was to examine the role of expectations in third level counselling services. This was achieved through a programme of four interwoven complementary studies. Firstly, Study 1 comprised a systematic review which synthesised recent research on how expectations impact psychotherapeutic outcomes in a third level counselling context. Across the five included studies, the review identified that expectations in student counselling are typically conceptualised in two categories: treatment/process expectations and outcome expectations. These expectations associate with a number of factors, including previous experiences of psychological treatment and generally more positive expectations are associated with more positive student outcomes. Next, Study 2, a secondary data analysis of a national student survey (N=39,403), explored patterns of students’ perceptions of supports available at their higher education institutions. Findings indicated that differing demographic and sociodemographic variables influenced support perceptions, which were also related to withdrawal considerations. Study 3 was then designed to gain practitioner perspectives from student counsellors operating in a range of Irish HEIs. Through 16 qualitative interviews, this study examined how expectations are assessed, negotiated and managed in the face of resource limitations, with findings revealing a tension between fostering hope and maintaining realism in counselling practice. Finally, building on the findings of the previous three studies, study 4 involved a mixed methods survey (N=113) which was designed to investigate students’ expectations and experiences of counselling services in Irish HEIs. Findings indicated that attitudes towards seeking professional help significantly predicted expectations, while previous engagement with psychological support was positively associated with retrospective expectations. Themes identified from open text responses highlighted both positive and negative expectations of counselling services that were shaped by a combination of internal and external influences. Together, these studies provide a multifaceted understanding of how expectations shape counselling processes and outcomes in higher education, highlighting the ways in which both students and counsellors navigate these dynamics within resource-constrained environments.